Bridezillas or Savvy Forward Planning? How long have you been planning your wedding?

Just last week, I was talking weddings with a friend. "Sure you've your dress picked and all, haven't you?"  he said, with total sincerity. "No! What? When would I have done that? I'm nine-fecking-teen!" I said, at a pitch that only dogs can hear.

Lower and lower my jaw dropped, as he told me that all of his friends, from the time they were in their early twenties, had planned their weddings. Not just taking a shine to a ring, or thinking a venue would be really romantic - actual, real, plans. Dress, rings, venue, menu, the whole shagging shebang.

I felt like I'd turned up to a geography exam without colouring pencils.

Other people I talked to felt the same, thus revealing a trend that I had previously been blissfully ignorant of.  I'm blaming Pinterest - they've made it all too easy to compile albums of wedding accessories  (like cakes! Who plans cakes?!) and it's now an established thing to sit there, scrap-booking a wedding to a person that you haven't even gotten your claws into yet.

I'm so confused by it all, whatever floats your boat and all that, but spending years planning a party makes my head spin.

Let me know, are you/did you have your wedding planned since before you even had your communion over and done with?